bristletooth tangs

[kimbertent]

i was thinking about buying a striped bristletooth (Ctenochaetus striatus) for my tank. i read on the "so you want a tang" thread that some tangs need sand to digest thier food. is this true for this type of bristletooth becuase i only have crushed coral? anyone have any experience with this or other bristletooth tangs and cc? thanks a lot.

 

[cheeks69]

I know some members who have a bristletooth in a BB tank and have kept them successfully.

Gene Schwartz:

Their behavior is similar to those in Acanthurus except that Ctenochaetus surgeonfish feed on detritus, thin film and matter on substrate that contains high concentration of unicellular algae

 

[kimbertent]

thanks for replying cheeks69. anybody else have any experience??

 

[Splendid]

i do and we had live sand and it died pretty quickly. They are not that hardy! Also wkith tangs you have very careful abut ich because when it spreads boy is it bad !

 

[BoomerD]

Kole tangs are wonderful animals. Relatively non-aggressive, always picking at bits of algae, and as hardy as any other tang. They stay fairly small for a tang, and are IMO, one of the best tangs for algae control. There are some things to watch for when buying one, and the most important, is to look at the mouth VERY carefully...any damage, and they almost never survive. Easy to damage them with bad net procedures, so catching them with other methods is preferred.
Here's more info:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ctenocha.htm

 

[mps9506]

We have a bristletooth tang in our 144 barebottom reef. Happy and fat as can be. Going on 6 months now..
But ditton on what boomer said, inspect the mouth carefully before purchase and after bagging.

 

[dobejazz]

I just got a Tomini Tang Ctenochaetus tominiensis. Very cool fish

 

[aquaman3680]

has any one had problems with the bristle tooths and zebramosa as far as being agressive?

 

[BoomerD]

For quite a while, I kept a Kole, a purple, and a naso in the same tank. For the first couple of days, there was a bit of tail-wagging aggression, but nothing serious. After that, they became the 3 amigos...and where one went, the others were right behind...

 

[aquaman3680]

how big of a tank?

 

[BoomerD]

Geez, you know I can't tell you that...the tang police might hear...ask Whodah...he knows. They were all pretty small though, so that is part of why I was able to get away with it.
Unfortunately, I never was able to get a GOOD picture of them...just too active.

 

[mps9506]

We have a yellow tang in with the kole in the 144. The yellow is the boss. I even did it backwards, the yellow tang had been in the tank for about a month before the kole was added, the Kole took its lumps, but did fine in the larger tank. They pretty much do fine togther now. I would def. recomend adding the zebrasoma second and maknig sure the size of both fish are approximately the same.